26. Nor are Virgil's testimonies altogether to be rejected, he being not utterly unskilful in natural philosophy.

Together rush the east and south-east wind, Nor doth wave calling south-west stay behind. And again:

I all the winds have seen their battles join.

We have considered of the motions of winds, in the nature of things: we must now consider their motions in human engines; and, first of all, in the sails of ships.

The Motion of Winds in the Sails of Ships. 1. In our greatest Britain ships (for we have chosen those for our pattern) there are four masts, and sometimes five, set up one behind the other, in a direct line drawn through the middle of the ship. Which masts we will name thus:

2. The mainmast, which stands in the middle of the ship; the foremast, the mizenmast, (which is sometimes double,) and the spritmast.

3. Each mast consists of several pieces, which may be lifted up, and fashioned with several knots and joints, or taken away; some have three of them, some only two.

4. The spritsail-mast from the lower joint lies bending over the sea, from that it stands upright; all the other masts stand upright.

5. Upon these masts hang ten sails, and when there be two mizenmasts, twelve; the mainmast and foremast have three tiers of sails, which we will call the mainsail, the topsail, and the maintopsail; the rest have but two, wanting the maintopsail.

6. The sails are stretched out across, near the top of every joint of the mast, by certain beams which we call yards, to which the upper parts of the sails are fastened, the lower parts are fastened with ropes at each corner; the mainsails to the sides of the ship, top and main-topsails to the yards which are next below them.

7. The yard of every mast hangs across, only the yards of the mizenmast hang sloping, one end up, and the other down; in the rest they hang straight across the masts, like unto the letter T.

8. The mainsails of the mainmast, foremast, and boarsprit, are of a quadrangular parallellogram form; the top and main-topsails somewhat sharp, and growing narrow at the top; but the top mizensails are sharp, the lower or mainsails triangular.

9. In a ship of eleven hundred tons, which was one hundred and twelve feet long in the keel, and forty in breadth in the hold; the mainsail of the mainmast was two-and-forty feet deep, and eighty-seven feet broad.

11. The main-topsail was seven-and-twenty feet deep, and two-and-forty broad at the bottom, and one-and-twenty at the top.

12. The foremast mainsail was forty feet and a half deep, and seventy-two feet broad.

13. The topsail was six-and-forty feet and a half deep, and sixty-nine feet broad at the bottom, and six-and-thirty at the top.

14. The main-topsail was four-and-twenty feet deep, six-and-thirty feet broad at the bottom, and eighteen feet at the top.

15. The mizen-mainsail was on the upper part of the yard one-and-fifty feet broad; in that part which was joined to the yard seventy-two feet; the rest ending in a sharp point.

16. The topsail was thirty feet deep, fiftyseven feet broad at the bottom, and thirty feet at the top.

17. If there be two mizenmasts, the hindermost sails are less than the foremast about the fifth part.

18. The mainsail of the boarsprit was eightand-twenty feet deep and a half, and sixty feet broad.

19. The topsail five-and-twenty feet and a half deep, and sixty feet broad at the bottom, and thirty at the top.

20. The proportions of masts and sails do vary, not only according to the bigness of ships, but also according to the several uses for which they are built: some for fighting, some for merchandise, some for swiftness, &c. But the proportion of the dimension of sails is no way proportioned to the number of tons whereof the ships consist, seeing a ship of five hundred tons, or thereabout, may bear almost as large a sail as the other we speak of, which was almost as big again. Whence it proceeds that lesser ships are far swifter and speedier than great ones, not only by reason of their lightness, but also by reason of the largeness of their sails, in respect of the body of the ship; for to continue that proportion in bigger ships would be too vast and impossible a thing.

21. Each sail being stretched out at the top, and only tied by the corners at the bottom, the wind must needs cause it to swell, especially about the bottom, where it is slacker.

22. The swelling is far greater in the lower sails than in the upper, because they are not only parallelograms, and the other more pointed at the top, but also because the extent of the yard doth so far exceed the breadth of the ship's sides to which they are fastened, that of necessity, because of the looseness, there must be a great receipt for the wind; so that in the great ship which we proposed for an example, the swelling of the sail in a direct wind may be nine or ten

23. By the same reason it also happens that all sails which are swelled by the wind, do gather themselves into a kind of arch or bow, so that of necessity much wind must slip through; insomuch, that in such a ship as we made mention of, that arch may be as high as a man.

24. But in the triangular sail of the mizenmast there must of necessity be a lesser swelling than in the quadrangular; as well because that figure is less capable, as, also, because that in the quadrangular three sides are slack and loose, but in the triangular only two, so that the wind is more sparingly received.

25. The motion of the wind in sails, the nearer it comes to the beak of the ship, the stronger it is, and sets the ship more forward, partly because it is in a place where, because of the sharpness of the beak-head, the waves are easilier cut in sunder; but, chiefly, because the motion at the beak draws on the ship; the motion from the stern and back part of the ship doth but drive it.

26. The motion of the winds in the sails of the upper tier advances more than that in the lower tier, because a violent motion is most violent when it is farthest removed from resistance, as in the wings and sails of windmills; but there is danger of drowning or overturning the ship: wherefore those sails are made narrower at the top, that they should not take in too much wind, and are chiefly made use of when there is not much wind.

27. Sails being placed in a direct line, one behind the other, of necessity those sails which stand behind must steal the wind from the foremost when the wind blows foreright; wherefore, if they be all spread out at once, the force of the wind hath scarce any power but in the mainmast sails, with little help of the lower sails of the boarsprit.

23. The best and most convenient ordering of sails, in a direct wind, is to have the two lower sails of the foremast hoisted up, for there (as we said before) the motion is most effectual; let also the topsail of the mainmast be hoisted up, for there will be so much room left under it, that there may be wind sufficient for the foresails, without any notable stealing of the wind from them.

29. By reason of the hinder sails stealing of the wind away from the foresails, we sail swifter with a side wind than with a fore wind. For with a side wind all the sails may be made use of, for they turn their sides to one another, and so hinder nor rob not one another.

30. Likewise, when a side wind blows, the sails are stifflier stretched out against the wind, which somewhat restrains the wind, and sends it that way as it should blow, whereby it gains some strength. But that wind is most advantageous which blows cornerly between a fore wind and a side wind.

31. The lower boarsprit-sail can hardly ever be unuseful, for it cannot be robbed from gathering the wind which way soever it doth blow, either about the ship sides, or under the rest of the sails.

32. There is considerable* in the motion of winds in ships, both the impulsion and direction of them. For that direction, which is made by the helm, doth not belong to the present inquisition, but only as it hath a connexion with the motion of the winds in the sails.

Connexion. As the motion of impulsion or driving forward is in force at the beak, so is the motion of direction in the poop; therefore, for that the lower mizenmast sail is of greatest concernment, for it is, as it were, an assistant to the helm.

33. Seeing the compass is divided into two-andthirty points, so that the semicircles of it are sixteen points, there may be a progressive sailing, (without any casting aboard, which is used when the wind is clean contrary,) though of the sixteen parts there be but six favourable, and the other ten contrary. But that kind of sailing depends much upon the lower sail of the mizenmast. For whilst the adverse parts of the wind, being more powerful and not to be opposed by the helm alone, would turn the other. sails, and the ship itself, against its intended course, that sail being stiffly stretched, favouring the helm, and strengthening its motion, turns the beak into the way of its course.

34. All manner of wind in the sails doth somewhat burden and depress the ship, and so much the more when it blows most from above. So that in the greatest storms, first they lower their yards and take away the upper sails, and if need be, all the rest, cut down the masts, cast their goods into the sea, and their ordnance, &c., to lighten the ship and make it swim and give way to the waves.

35. By this motion of the winds in the sails of ships, (if it be a merry and prosperous gale,) a merchant's ship may sail sixscore Italian miles in four-and-twenty hours; for there are certain packet boats which are built a purpose for swiftness, (that are called caravels,) which will go further. But when the wind is clean contrary, they fly to this last refuge, and a very weak one, to go on their course, namely, to proceed sideway, as the wind will suffer them, out of their course, then turn their way again towards their course, and so proceed in an angular way. By which progression (which is less than creeping, for serpents creep on by crooked turnings, but they make angles) they may, in four-and-twenty hours, go fifteen miles' journey.

Greater Observations.

1. This motion of winds in sails of ships hath

i. e. to be considered.

2. The first spring comes from the quantity of the wind which is received; for questionless more wind helps more than less; wherefore the quantity of wind must be carefully procured, which will be done if, like wise householders, we be good husbands, and take care nothing be stolen from us. Wherefore we must be very careful

that no wind may be lost.

3. The wind blows either above the ships or below them, to the very superficies and surface of the sea; and as provident men use to look most after the least things, (for the greater no man can choose but look after,) so we will first look after these lower winds, which questionless cannot perform so much as the higher.

4. As concerning the winds which blow chiefly about the sides of the ships, and under their sails, it is the office of the main boarsprit-sail, which lies low and sloping, to gather them into it, that there may be no waste nor loss of wind; and this of itself does good, and hinders not the wind which fills the other sails. And about this I do not see what can be done more by the industry of man, unless they should perchance fix such low sails out of the middle of the ship, like wings or feathers, two on each side when the wind blows right.

5. But, concerning the bewaring of being robbed, which happens when the hinder sails (in a fore-right wind) steal the wind away from the foresails, (for in a side wind all the sails are set a-work,) I know not what can be added to the care man hath already taken to prevent it, unless when there is a fore wind, there may be made a kind of stairs, or scale of sails, that the hindermost sails of the mizzenmast may be the lowest, the middle ones at the mainmast a little higher, the foremast, at the foremast, highest of all, that one sail may not hinder but rather help the other, delivering and passing over the wind from one to another. And let so much be observed of the first fountain of impulsion.

6. The second fountain of impulsion consists in the manner of striking the sail with the wind, which, if through the contraction of the wind it be acute and swift, will move more; if obtuse and languishing, less.

7. As concerning this, it is of great moment, and much to the purpose, to let the sails have a reasonable extension and swelling; for if they be stretched out stiff, they will, like a wall, beat back the wind; if they be too loose, there will be a weak impulsion.

8. Touching this, human industry hath behaved itself well in some things, though it was more by chance than out of any good judgment. For, in a side wind, they gather up that part of the VOL. III.-58

the wind: and by that means they set in the wind into that part where it should blow. And this they do and intend. But, in the mean season, this follows, (which, peradventure, they do not perceive,) that the wind is more contracted, and strikes more sharply.

9. What may be added to human industry in this, I cannot perceive, unless the figure of the sails be changed, and some sails be made which shall not swell round, but, like a spur or a triangle, with a mast or piece of timber in that corner of the top, that they may contract the wind more sharply, and cut the outward air more powerfully. And that angle (as we suppose) must not be altogether sharp, but like a short obtuse triangle, that it may have some breadth. Neither do we know what good it would do, if there were, as it were, a sail made in a sail; if, in the middle of a greater sail, there were a kind of a purse, not altogether loose, of canvass, but with ribs of wood, which should take up the wind in the middle of the sail, and bring it into a sharpness.

10. The third fountain or original of impulsion, is in the place where the wind hits, and that is twofold; for, from the fore side of the ship the impulsion is easier and stronger than on the hinder part; and from the upper part of the mast and sail than from the lower part.

11. Neither seems the industry of man to have been ignorant of this, when, in a fore-wind, their greatest hopes have been in their foremasts, and in calms they have have not been careless in hoisting up of their topsails. Neither, for the present, do we find what may be added to human industry in this point, unless concerning the first we should set up two or three foremasts, (the first upright and the rest sloping,) whose sails shall hang downward; and, as for the second, that the foresails should be enlarged at the top, and made less sharp than they usually are: but, in both, we must take heed of the inconvenience of danger, in sinking the ship too much.

The Motion of Winds in other Engines of Man's

Invention.

1. The motion of windmills hath no subtilty at all in it; and yet, usually, it is not well explained nor demonstrated. The sails are set right and direct opposite against the wind which bloweth. One side of the sail lies to the wind, the other side by little and little bends itself, and gets itself away from the wind. But the turning and continuance of the motion is always caused by the lower part, namely, that which is farthest from the wind. But the wind, overcasting itself against the engine, is contracted and restrained by the four sails, and is constrained to take its way in four spaces. The wind doth not well endure that compression; wherefore, of necessity it must, as it were, with its elbow hit the sides 2 Q

of the sails, and so turn them, even as little whirligigs that children play withal, are turned with the fingers.

2 If the sails were extended even and equally, it would be doubtful which way the inclination would be, as in the fall of a staff; but when the nearer side which meets with the wind casts the violence of it upon the lower side and from thence into distances, so that when the lower side receives the wind, like the palm of the hand, or the sail of a ship's boat, presently there is a turning on that side. But this is to be observed, that the beginning of the motion proceeds not from the first impulsion, which is direct and abreast, but from the lateral impulsion, which is after the compression or straitening of the wind.

3. We made some proofs and trials about this, for the increasing of this motion, as well to be assured we had found the cause, as also for use; feigning an imitation of this motion, with paper sails, and the wind of a pair of bellows. We, therefore, added to the side of the lower sail a fold turned in from the wind, that the wind being become a side wind might have somewhat more to beat upon, which did no good, that fold not so much assisting the percussion of the wind, as in consequence hindering the cutting of the air. We placed behind the sails, at some distance, certain obstacles as broad as the diameter of all the sails, that the wind being more compressed might hit the stronger; but this did rather hurt than good, the repercussion dulling the primary motion. Then we made the sails of a double breadth, that the wind might be the more restrained, and there might be a stronger lateral percussion, which at last proved very well; so that the conversion was caused by a far milder gale, and did turn a great deal more swiftly.

Mandate. Peradventure this increase of motion might more conveniently be made by eight sails, than by four, doubling the breath, unless too much weight did overburden the motion; which must have trial made of it.

Mandate. Likewise the length of sails doth much conduce to the motion. For in wheelings a slight violence about the circumference is equivalent to a far greater about the centre. But then this inconvenience follows, that the longer the sails are, the more distant they are at the top, and the wind is so much the less straitened. Peradventure the business would go well if the sails were a little longer and broader towards the top, like the outermost end of an oar. But this we are not sure of.

Motion. If these experiments be made trial of in windmills, care must be taken of the windmill posts, and the foundations of it; for the more the wind is restrained, the more it shakes (though

it swiftens the motion of the sails) the whole frame of the mill.

4. It is reported that in some countries there are coaches and wagons which move with the wind; but this must be more diligently looked after.

Mandate. Chariots moving by virtue of the wind can be of no use, unless it be in open places and plains; besides, what will be done if the wind allays? It had been better to have thought of easing the motion of wagons and coaches by sails, which might be set up and taken down, to ease the oxen or horses which draw them, rather than to make a motion by wind alone.

Prognostics of Winds.

To the two-and-thirtieth article. Connexion.

The more divination useth to be polluted by vanity and superstition, so much more is the purer part of it to be received and honoured. But natural divination is sometimes more certain, sometimes more slippery and deceitful, according to the subject with which it hath to do; for if it be of a constant and regular nature, it causeth a certain prediction; if it be of a variable and irregular nature, it may make a casual and deceitful one: yet, in a various subject the prediction will hold true, if it be diligently regulated; peradventure it may not hit upon the very moments, but in the thing itself it will not err much. Likewise, for the times of the event and complement, some predictions will hit right enough, namely, those which are not gathered from the causes, but from the thing itself, already inchoated, but sooner appearing in an apt and fitly disposed matter than in another, as we said before in the topics concerning this two-and-thirtieth article. We will now, therefore, set forth the prognostics of winds, of necessity intermixing some of rain and fair weather, which could not conveniently be separated, remitting the full inquiry of them to their proper titles.

1. If the sun appears hollow at its rising, it will the very same day yield wind or rain; if it appears as it were a little hollow, it signifies wind: if deeply hollow, rain.

2. If the sun rises pale, or (as we call it) waterish, it betokens rain; if it set so, it betokens wind.

3. If the body of the sun itself appears at its setting of the colour of blood, it betokens great winds for many days.

4. If at sunrising its beams appears rather red than yellow, it signifies wind rather than rain, and the like if they appear so at its setting.

5. If at sunrising or setting its rays appear contracted or shortened, and do not shine out bright, though the weather be not cloudy, it signifies rain rather than wind.